Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 23, 2026 and September 25, 2026.
Lincoln, Illinois, in Logan County, has about 13,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the State's Attorney files charges, a case in the Circuit Court of Logan County. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Lincoln public records, Logan County arrest records, Illinois arrest records and Illinois inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Lincoln
The FBI lists Lincoln with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Lincoln Police Department. It reported 452 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Logan County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 104 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Lincoln Reports
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Lincoln: 452 for 2025, 305 for 2024, 336 for 2023, 374 for 2022 and 452 for 2021.
Lincoln's 452 arrests in 2025 were up 48 percent from 305 in 2024.
Through September 2026, Lincoln reported 436 arrests, against 346 in the same months of 2025.
Across Logan County, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,710 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lincoln Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Lincoln is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2019 the jail held about 39 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 65 beds, and it ran at 60 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Illinois Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at idoc.illinois.gov/offender/inmatesearch.html.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Lincoln
For Lincoln the place to look is the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at logancountyil.gov/index.php, phone (217) 732-2184).
Illinois is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: conviction information is public under the Uniform Conviction Information Act, through the Illinois State Police. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Lincoln
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act the agency must answer within 5 business days, with one 5-day extension, and it may charge copying only after the first 50 pages.
- An arrest by the Lincoln police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at lincolnil.gov/freedom-of-information-act-police (page title: Freedom of Information Act Police | City of Lincoln | Lincoln, IL), phone (217)735-2815, 500 S. 2nd Street Springfield, IL 62706, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Logan County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, (217) 732-2184, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
The Logan County guide covers every agency in the county: Logan County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lincoln each year?
Lincoln reported 452 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Lincoln booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Logan County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lincoln?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Illinois State Police: conviction information is public under the Uniform Conviction Information Act. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Lincoln?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lincoln police for its own arrests, the Logan County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act the answer is due within 5 business days, with one 5-day extension.
Is this the official Lincoln website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.